Maya Dentists

People do many things to make their bodies look beautiful. They might cut their hair in the latest style or have their teeth whitened.

For the Maya, this was not enough. They REALLY wanted their teeth to be good-looking. For them, the idea of beauty including teeth that had jewels. Sometimes, they had parts of their teeth cut away to create different shapes. The most expensive thing they did was to put jewels in their teeth! Sometime they would use the stone of jade in their teeth, like you see in the picture below.

The ancient Maya thought that jade was even more valuable than gold. Because of it’s brilliant green color, they believed the precious stone was a symbol of water, fresh plants, and life. Jade was rare. Kings and queens more it to show their power and buried it with their bodies because they felt that it might help them live forever in a life after death.

Ancient Maya teeth showing insets of jade and turquoise stones. The front teeth have also been filed into decorative shapes.

The Maya must have had some very skilled dentists. Archaeologists have found skulls of Maya people with small holes drilled into their teeth. They had to be very precise when drilling these holes. One mistake could cause a lot of pain or ruin a tooth forever. Jewels are put into the holes. Probably plant sap was used to make the stones stick to the teeth.

Wikimedia Commons.

The photo you see below of a skull show many jewels in the teeth. There are stones of several different colors. It must have been a very expensive job because there are quite a few stones!

Isn’t it amazing to think that the Maya were decorating their teeth 2,500 years ago!

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